In the manufacture of well swab cups, the cage consisting of the bushing and the wires or support members is formed of separate parts then assembled into a skeletal like configuration. Once this is done, the cage is placed in a mold cavity and the mold cavity is filled with an elastomeric compound to complete the molding process. Because of the relatively large quantity of swab cups that are manufactured, the bushing is constructed so the wires can be easily slipped into place in the mounting portion of the bushing. In order to assure ease in assembly, apertures through the bushing which support the wires are substantially larger than the normal or typical wires to allow for rapid assembly. Because of this loose fit, wires which are only supported by a single mount or contact with the bushing tend to become displaced during the molding process from a regularly spaced arrangement around the bushing to an irregular arrangement that may have a substantial gap between certain of the wires while others are substantially closer together than may be desirable.
When a swab cup is made with an excessively large gap between some of the wires while the others are abnormally close together, this will create a weakened sidewall of the cup body. This weakened wall portion will cause the cup to blowout or become peforated through a portion of the cup sidewall at the large gap thus destroying the swab cup.
Prior art swab cup constructions have overcome this problem of maintaining this spaced relation of the wires during molding by rigidly clamping the lower ends of the wires. This solution will overcome the problem of positioning the wires, however, it makes the lower portion of the swab cup extremely rigid; therefore, it is not a feasible solution for swab cups which must flex radially a significant amount in their lower as well as in their upper portions.